There is no higher aspiration amongst a certain type of British girl than to marry a royal and no author better suited to skewer this ambition with wit and a lightning fast plot than British author, Wendy Holden. For my money, no one does chick lit better than the Brits. Maybe it’s because they use words we don’t and it makes everything even funnier (dosh, plonk, quiff, and ... Read More...
The Map of Lost Memories
The one thing to remember about an adventure is that if it turns out the way you expect it to, it has not been an adventure at all. They traveled at night as it was only then that the heat released its grip enough to make movement through the jungle possible. By 8am the temperature and humidity combined to immobilize every living creature. Despite the difficulties, this is ... Read More...
Misfit: A Novel
The 50th anniversary of Marilyn’s death was this month and it’s been heralded by an uptick in new books about her life. I reviewed Lois Banner’s biography Marilyn last week but was interested to see what a fiction author would do, especially as so much of Marilyn’s life reads like fiction anyway. How would one choose which way to go from the trove of material available? In ... Read More...
Motherland
In case you’re not up on all the New York City realty news Park Slope is a much sought after neighborhood in Brooklyn. It is apparently also home to five unhappy, angry, put-upon parents trying desperately to figure out where their lives went so horribly wrong. Rebecca seems to have it all but finds her husband to be more interested in the kids than in her. When they first ... Read More...
Rules of Civility
It is a rare occasion when the title of a book not only hints at the plot but perfectly describes the stylistic tone as well. The Rules of Civility is just such a book and it is a grand first effort for author Amor Towles. Towles takes us into Manhattan in 1938. Wealthy Manhattan, where what is said and seen on the surface is often not what is happening underneath. ... Read More...
City of Women
The grandpa just stares backward at a world that no longer exists, or forward to a world beyond his comprehension. For Sigrid Schröder her life in 1943 Berlin is one of grinding tedium, working days as a stenographer and spending nights in a small apartment with her mother-in-law and withdrawn husband. Her only escape is a movie theater where she can sit quietly in the ... Read More...
